30th Nov 2010

A dear friend's SMS:

They didnt call so i take it as it's all fine. Yes tmr starts

Standard Chartered Bangkok Marathon 2010 Day 3/3

Woke up for breakfast.



Waiting in the room. We want to go for foot massage.










The massage parlour we went to yesterday.




My 2 big toe nails dropped. Results of TNF 2010.




Lunch was at the Canton restaurant we went to yesterday too.




Lunch. But our rice are missing.

We left for the airport after lunch.










I like this game. Its about running.








This what you need to do if you are worried your dreamland will be too sunny.

Standard Chartered Bangkok Marathon 2010 Day 2/3

All ready.

There was little traffic so early in the morning. We reached the Start Line in around 10 mins time.









I did not feel excited about the race when I toed the start line. In my heart, I was just wishing to complete. A good timing will be just a bonus. There was not much familiar faces around. Only Saw Jenap. Guess the rest were racing at Penang.

We started the race at 0300Hr. In my mind, I still remembered what Azhar had told me about Bangkok marathon a few weeks before when we met at Vivocity. A lot of people unexpectedly either hit their PB or achieved a better timing than expected at Bangkok. Of course, what he said had lingered in my mind but I did not dare to put too much hope on it.

Very soon, we went up the expressway. It was just around 1 - 2km into the race. The expressway was not like those in Malaysia where it undulates up and down. Neither does it twist around like a snake. Instead, it was plain straight. There were some slopes at some locations but they were just gentle slopes. There was no sun to light up the surrounding so there was no scenery to see. The only thing you could see was the runners around and the expressway as it narrows into a single dot far far ahead. There were no distractions. The environment really made you focus on the run. Nothing but the run.

It was just plain expressway all the way. I ran and I ran. The U turn on the expressway came at the 16km mark. Now its back the same stretch. As I ran I saw Aileen coming in on the other side, I called for her but was not sure if she heard me.

The weather was cooler than expected. Around the low to mid 20s degree C surprisingly. Not much wind on the expressway too.

I had started the race at a 6min pace. Increased it to 5.5min at 5km mark. Ramped up to my cruising pace of 5min from 15km onwards.

10km: 00:58.

21km: 01:58

hey .. !! .. 01:58! If I could maintain, I would be able to do a sub 4! Alright, lets not be too happy about it. Its only halfway through the race.

I was slightly amazed I could hold on to 5min pace as I made my way towards 30km. The crowd had thinned by now. I looked around me and observed the others around me, all sucked into the realm of their own race. In my mind, I soon realised that I was in the "Sub 4" pack of the runners.

We exited the expressway as we were about to reach 29km. We passed through the Rama VIII Bridge. There was a slight slope but the whole bridge lit up at night was very nice.

Once we crossed the bridge, we came to the 30km mark. I was supposed to drop my pace back to 5.5min.

30km: 02:46.

"Ok, 30km. Slow down!", I told myself as my garmin registered 30km.

However, instead of slowing down, my body shut down. Or it sort of shut down. My pace went haywire. I tried to maintain it and it took me around 1 - 2km to make it stabilise at 6min. Slowly, I brought it up to 5.5min. But it was hard to maintain it at 5.5min. The pace kept dropping and I kept telling myself that I need to force myself to maintain it to ensure a sub 4. Runners from behind began to overtake me. These were the people who most probably could do a decent negative split.

At 03:00, I looked at my garmin. It showed 32km. Hey .. !! .. There was really a chance for Sub 4!

The journey back to the palace now was torturing, as usual. I was trying very hard to maintain the pace at 5.5min but it kept dropping to 6min each time I brought it close to 5.5min. I was cursing at myself for not training for speed. I knew this was important but I was lazy to do it. I preferred LSD over speed training. This was what I got for not training for the essentials.

As we turned to the palace, the crowd grew more and more. The Thais were cheering for their friends who were running.

I bit onto my lips to keep the pace and sprinted towards the finish line.

I did it! Sub 4!



15km: 01:26:45

34km: 03:10:19

Gun Time: 03:57:55

Net Time: 03:57:47

Overall Placing: 208 / 1467

Cat Placing: 86 / 350




MacDonald was a sponsor of the event. The guy in the center was the CEO MacDonald (Thailand) and he was from Singapore too.






Mac was giving out chicken porridge for finishers. We could exchange for 1 bowl for 1 coupon that we were given in the race pack.

I went to find the place for collection of the fruits. The people told me its at another corner of the place.


There were tentages set up to sell running gear too.






Mac started giving out the porridge when they realised they had a lot of extras as time passed.




It tasted really good.


The medal.

Once everybody returned, we took a cab back to the hotel. It rain heavily on the way back. Very heavily. We were lucky that it did not start during our run. The taxi driver also took us to the wrong hotel and had to twist and turn his way around to get us back to the hotel.

Aileen and I went to the hotel restaurant for our breakfast as it was still the breakfast timing. Joe and Tang went back to their room.

After washing up ourselves and taking a short rest, Aileen, Joe and me went out to look for massage. Tang stayed in the room to rest.

















We had full body massage at a massage parlour near our hotel lasting 1 hour. It was followed by lunch at a Canton restaurant right next to the hotel. Joe and Tang were flying off today. Aileen and I returned to the room to rest further.


Playing High Noon on the Iphone.


Dinner was at a small restaurant at the road junction.


When you see other tourists eating there, it means its pricing were tourist friendly.


Beer.


Grilled clams.




Oysters.


Visited CentralWorld after dinner.


Christmas mood is in.


New Balance.


Had ice cream.

The time was around 2100hr now but we were feeling tired. Going back to the hotel was a problem. Its not situated near CentralWorld or any train stations. So we could only take cab but no taxi drivers were willing to go by meter. In the end, we paid 150THB to go back to the hotel when it only costed us 80THB to go to CentralWorld from the hotel.

I guess, sometimes some things were not within our control. Its time to rest now. We had had a long day.